Venue: Capital Center, Landover, Maryland. 16th May, 1977.
The capital center in Maryland
had hosted Ali’s dreadful fight with Jimmy Young. Here
was another stinker, with Alfredo Evangelista, a man not fit
to lace Ali’s boots. Indeed, the WBC had allegedly pulled
strings to gain Evangelista the ranking necessary to sanction
the bout as a title fight. The fight was turgid, with Ali
in no danger of either losing or of stopping his opponent.
The decline was apparent and Muhammad Ali himself began to
discuss retirement openly.
